Do you live in a town threatened by flooding? You should be reading this
If you live in a coastal city where flooding is an annual business or if you are thinking of shifting to some city which is threatened by flooding, here is a story of how to make the most of a situation when faced with a natural disaster.
Cities like Mumbai, Sydney, New South Wales, New York, Tokyo, Shanghai are famous flood-prone cities. But 16-foot water logging is a situation not known to many. In case it does happen, just like it happened in Illinois in 1993, the city-dwellers will have no idea what struck them. Families and lives will shift as schools, hospitals, workplaces and residential buildings will stop working.
But then, what can you do? Because you cannot act fast when you are stuck in a disaster, right?
So here's the story of a model town to look out for, just so that you are mentally prepared.
THE STORY OF VALMEYER, ILLINOIS
Valmeyer, a town in Illinois, was submerged twice in a month in 1993 and saw severe floods because of the Mississipi river. The village, which was at a distance of 5 km from the river, witnessed water levels rising up to about 16 feet, which damaged 90% of their buildings. They called it the Great Flood of 1993.
The first flood began in August 1993 and two weeks later, the water started to recede. But as residents returned, another surge of flooding occured in September 1993, which permanently set residents on a different course of action.
The impact was traumatic but led to something phenomenal that was never seen before. The community knew that their homes were in the way of the river's rising forces and could not bear going through the same experience again.
So, 900 residents of this tight-knit farming community came together and formed a plan to move out of the town, together as a team. The idea was to sell the existing land to the government, and use the proceeds to buy another piece of land, together as a community. So, they moved from their floodplain homes to an area which was a bit uphill.
This was a last-resort alternative, and is now called 'managed retreat'.
But as more and more cities are facing terrible impacts of floods, this last-resort technique might be a model for planned redevelopment of internal land spaces.
WHY WAS THIS MODEL A SUCCESS?
Fast action, a strong and persuasive leadership and public support for the community's decisions triggered everything to fall in place.
HOW DID THEY MOVE?
The entire process was estimated at 8 years, but was surprisingly done over a 4-year span.
First, the government initiated action as representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the US government's main body for disaster relief, aimed to move buildings out of the path of recurring disasters. The government offered to buy out damaged properties and allow residents to use the proceeds to rebuild the city on a higher ground.
#OTD in 1993, Fountain Creek levee failed just N of Valmeyer & flood waters inundated Valmeyer, IL. The town of 900 was largely destroyed & was eventually relocated/rebuilt on higher ground 2 miles to the east of the original location. #GreatFloodof1993 #stlwx #ilwx pic.twitter.com/CAjqlhwmLT
— NWS St. Louis (@NWSStLouis) August 2, 2018
Though it was shocking at first, the idea caught on as people realised that relocating together was the only way to keep the community together; else everyone would be scattered.
Second, the officials zeroed in on a 500-acre (202 hectare) land of cornfields and woods and the residents created a lot of committees that would work with outside experts to draw up preliminary drafts for the new town. In the next two months, the Mayor of Valmeyer, Dennis Knobloch, went around cities to check if the plans were feasible and if someone could support them financially.
Third, the citizens used personal savings to make down payments on land plots for their new homes. The Mayor tried to receive fundings of $ 22 million to transplant Valmeyer, and $ 23 million to buy out residents' houses (which were eventually bought by the state and federal governments through a 90% pledge).
There were serious setbacks during the process which increased the time taken to relocate the residents.
Some archeological sites were found during excavation and had to be sorted out, while some development plans had to be tweaked because of a cluster of sinkholes in the relocation site. The construction also stopped for four months as some trees were a breeding ground for an endangered species of bats.
Also, since the process was time-consuming, there was a risk of the community being scattered. Thus, the Mayor decided to keep the community's institutions (like the school, churches and civic groups) active despite not having permanent structures, to keep the social networks alive.
However, some families still had to drop out as they couldn't stay with their relatives for so long.
After the #GreatFlood of 1993 the town of #Valmeyer, Illinois packed up and moved to higher ground. These #Landsat images show before, during, and after the #MississippiRiver flood. pic.twitter.com/COEyuyasiW
— USGS Landsat Program (@USGSLandsat) July 31, 2019
Over time, the entire town was built again.
At the end of the entire 4-year process (which was expected to be an 8-year process), 700 of the 900 people relocated to the new town. And also became an example for what was possible.
HOW ARE THINGS NOW?
The new Valmeyer is an orderly residential community, with tidy homes, senior apartments, a post office, a school, a gas station, two banks, three churches and a restaurant. However, the feel and the character of the original town is missing and it's more of a suburb now, with more people staying in the new area. Also, the government does not allow any more buildings to be built in the old area.
Now, there was another impact of the shift: the commercial businesses never developed again as most moved to neighbouring communities after the flood. Also, as the government never covers the cost of moving businesses, that is something required going forward.